WHEN A COBBLER
RULED THE KING
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
When a Cobbler Ruled the King
by
Augusta Husiell Seaman
with
Decoration and Drawings by
George Wharton Edwards
New York The Macmillan Co. 1919
Copyright, 1911,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
TO MY HUSBAND
FOREWORD
About the tradition of the "Lost Dauphin" there hovers a romance andcharm perennially new, and history contains perhaps no more appealinglittle figure than that of Louis XVII of France.
At the time when the tempest of the French Revolution submerged thethrone of the Bourbon monarchy, Louis Charles, royal Dauphin, was but achild of seven. On his sunny head, for the space of three years, theTerror wreaked its vengeance; and at the age of ten, it would have beendifficult to recognize in the forlorn little captive of the TempleTower, aged by imprisonment and abuse, and experienced in many forms ofsuffering, the once light-hearted and lovely child of Versailles and theTuileries.
History in its most accepted form has chosen to close this regrettablechapter with the death of the little prince at the age of ten, and whilestill in his unjust captivity. With the receding years, however, therehas arisen a not unreasonable doubt of this premature ending. Evidencesstrangely convincing have come to light, revealing a possibility of hishaving been rescued, spirited away from his native land, and allowed tolive out the alloted number of his days in peaceful obscurity.
There are few of us who do not welcome this possibility, who do notrelish the thought that his watchful and heartless tormentors may havebeen cleverly hoodwinked. And added to our pleasure in a happier fatefor this much-wronged child of monarchy, is the delightful romance andmystery with which a possible escape and an existence thenceforthincognito has surrounded the history of the "Lost Dauphin." In the fieldof fiction the subject affords an all but endless variety of solution,and numerous are the romances woven about the person of "Little Capet."Curiously enough, few if any of these novels are quite suitable foryounger readers, though the subject is one that should have a specialappeal for the hearts of youth, since the chief personality is a childof peculiarly winning characteristics, and one who endured diversifiedand exciting vicissitudes.
Such a story I have striven to relate in When a Cobbler Ruled theKing, endeavoring to present a picture, faithful as far as it goes, ofthe historical and political situation. It may add to the interest ofthe story to know that except for the persons of "Jean," "La Souris" and"Prevôt," who are pure fiction, there is not one character in the bookbut has a counterpart in history. These characters are in the mainobscure enough to admit of much latitude in fictitious presentation. T